B.C. to fund upgrades to reduce avian flu risk for Fraser Valley poultry farms

ABBOTSFORD — British Columbia says it will be providing $2.5 million in funding that will allow about 75 poultry farms in the Fraser Valley to upgrade their barns to reduce the risk of avian flu.

The Agriculture Ministry says in a news release that the flu can enter barns through airflow, water sources and other means and, despite increased measures, there have been about 200 outbreaks in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland since 2022.

It says the Novel Tools and Technologies Program will help egg and poultry producers equip their barns with tools such as air filters and ultraviolet light systems.

The ministry says the program will provide as much as $30,000 per farm for future projects or those that began after Jan. 1, 2025.

It says most projects should be complete by the fall, which is when the disease is at the highest risk of spreading to poultry on farms or backyard flocks due to migration.

About 9 million birds have been culled in B.C. since 2022 and the ministry says the last reported case of avian flu in a commercial flock happened in January, at the end of the last fall migration.

Agriculture Minister Lana Popham says farmers in the region have been battling against avian influenza since the first outbreak in 2004.

“Despite the personal stress and losses caused by the virus, producers still rise every morning to care for their birds and build our food supply,” she says in the release. “This program will help them do that by adding extra defence measures against the virus to their barns.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.